In a world where people are born a Dom or a sub… Cross is not a good man. His past is filled with dark magic, with death and blood sacrifices. He refuses to inflict his dominance on anybody—he’s not worthy of being a Dom. He’s scared of what he’s capable of. It’s been years since he scened, and he knows his body is slowly dying because of it, but this fate is better than hurting a sub. Alex is a dynamic specialist. He subs for Doms who need to scene for their own health and don’t have other options. When he’s called to the Meliora coven for the most extreme case of Domdrop he’s ever encountered, he expects it just to be another client in a long line of clients. That’s not what he finds. As Cross struggles to trust himself enough to Dom, enough to live, Alex is forced to question how joyless his own life has become. There is something blooming within them, between them, and neither of them knows if it’s something they can keep alive, or something that will wither away once their contract is broken and Alex leaves Meliora for good. In This Shadow, Longing is a hurt/comfort story with escalating BDSM, two people learning how to truly trust, and about how love can soften even the most salted of earths.